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Amazon to stop accepting UK Visa credit cards

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Re: Amazon to stop accepting UK Visa credit cards

#441

Post by PeterisP »

stronglikedan wrote: post #383
PeterisP wrote: post #360

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Brexit is the gift that keeps on giving!

The path to the better destination is sometimes the bumpier path.

I understand part of the motivation for Brexit was to have the freedom to make independent choices for various laws.

It makes sense in theory, however, if I look at the actual changes where UK has now diverged from EU laws like this one, those changes seem bad for the UK public (in order to benefit e.g. banks), and it turns out this freedom for politicians to do whatever they want somehow results in even less accountability to the interests of British public than the unelected unaccountable Brussels officials cut off by Brexit. Sad.

Re: Amazon to stop accepting UK Visa credit cards

#442

Post by FerretFred »

goodcanadian wrote: post #439
cutler wrote: post #417

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Amen. The great British public still have their heads in the sand in the wake of lorry driver shortages, nursing staff shortages and doctor shortages. You have to laugh or tear your hair out when the Home Office offers a 3-month reprieve hoping to lure exiled EU workers back to the UK.

Polls have shown that a majority of "the great British public" now believe Brexit was a mistake, so I don't think it is fair to say they "still have their heads in the sand."

Maybe.. it's the way it was implemented for what passes as a Government here (in the UK). It would've been better to keep the Common Market and just ditch the unelected Brussels bureaucrats. I've heard that Poland and France are making *exit noises too...

Re: Amazon to stop accepting UK Visa credit cards

#444

Post by wayoutthere »

throwaway2037 wrote: post #432
wayoutthere wrote: post #403

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But they’re not on equal footing with the global superpowers — the EU has significant leverage by representing nearly a billion people. The UK had an outsized voice in EU politics, where now it’s just a small fish in an ocean of sharks. The UK is basically Mexico now. You saw how well their trade negotiations with the EU went; expect the US and China to walk all over them too.

Zero trolling here. You wrote: > My rule of thumb is about 500M. (Google says 445M.) Where is the other 500M?

Was doing it off the top of my head; was off on the exact number but the sentiment holds. The main benefit of the UK has been that it was an English-speaking intermediary for US companies. The Netherlands and Germany are filling that role as basically every white collar worker speaks fluent English.

The main power lever the UK has at this point on the global stage is the fact that its banks orchestrate and facilitate global money laundering at the intersection of corporations, organized crime and autocratic regimes. And is rapidly losing that role to crypto.

Re: Amazon to stop accepting UK Visa credit cards

#445

Post by Symbiote »

Fnoord wrote: post #428
cutler wrote: post #417

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Amen. The great British public still have their heads in the sand in the wake of lorry driver shortages, nursing staff shortages and doctor shortages. You have to laugh or tear your hair out when the Home Office offers a 3-month reprieve hoping to lure exiled EU workers back to the UK.

We have a shortage here in NL as well, and we're still part of EU, so I am not sure if/how Brexit is related. The job is being paid shit here in NL, and its high stress, especially since Covid-19. Its like blaming the current inflation on Covid-19; well, no, its the gas price which has gone up. And that is because of an artificial shortage by OPEC. I'm not sure why they do that though... I can only guess.

Do you have empty shelves in supermarkets as a result? Closed restaurants?

There's a shortage all across Europe, but as far as I have heard it's only in the UK where it's sufficient to cause problems with food distribution.

(Natural gas prices have reduced food production in the Netherlands: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-09-30/your-toma... but would we have seen the result of that yet?)

Re: Amazon to stop accepting UK Visa credit cards

#446

Post by hhmc »

aix1 wrote: post #380
00deadbeef wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Any idea why Amex would be so popular in London? I'd never even consider an Amex card due to my perception of it being something that many places won't even accept.

Some people (myself included) have a British Airways AmEx card to get a BA companion voucher every year.

There's also a cashback card which is worthwhile over a certain expected spend.

Re: Amazon to stop accepting UK Visa credit cards

#447

Post by Symbiote »

zdragnar wrote: post #427
cutler wrote: post #417

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Amen. The great British public still have their heads in the sand in the wake of lorry driver shortages, nursing staff shortages and doctor shortages. You have to laugh or tear your hair out when the Home Office offers a 3-month reprieve hoping to lure exiled EU workers back to the UK.

Brexit may not be helping matters, but it certainly isn't responsible for those shortages. Every western country is facing the same issues. Schools near me in (not UK) are struggling to feed students lunch because the companies they had contracted to deliver their food dont have enough drivers. One company a state over just cancelled their contract with nearly 60 rural schools because they simply aren't able to deliv…

It helps if you say which country you're referring to. Maybe the USA? i.e. [1].

As far as I've heard, the EU doesn't have these problems. It's only the UK. (I can't speak all the languages, but I asked friends from Denmark, Germany, Portugal, Spain and Italy if they'd seen reports of shortages in supermarkets and restaurants, but none have.)

The American problem looks fixable with vaccination, testing etc. A lot of drivers in Britain left the country, and there isn't a short-term fix.

[1] https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/27/us/politics/schools-labor...

Re: Amazon to stop accepting UK Visa credit cards

#448

Post by cesarb »

mschuster91 wrote: post #150
qalmakka wrote: post #117

VAT evasion is widespread in certain countries (like Italy for instance), and pushing people to prefer electronic payments to cash is empirically the only realistic way to counter it, but there will always be resistance from small retailers until payment fees are low enough. The availability of electronic payments should be universal, I personally hate being forced to constantly carry cash on myself at all times. In…

On the other hand, shifting to electronic payments is building up an incredible surveillance mechanism. Let's just take an example of who is endangered... a 16 year old girl from a strictly religious family who had unprotected sex and needs Plan B. In a cash environment, she'll pay for it with her allowance, and her parents won't ever discover she had bought Plan B. In a cashless society, her parents can see the evid…

> In a cash environment, she'll pay for it with her allowance, and her parents won't ever discover she had bought Plan B. In a cashless society, her parents can see the evidence by checking her bank account.

Playing devil's advocate: that's only if the payment and the product are linked. When I buy something at a pharmacy with a credit or debit card, all that appears on the card together with the value is the name of the pharmacy. Looking at the bank account does not reveal whether the item I bought was toothpaste or chocolate (yes pharmacies also sell chocolate here).

Re: Amazon to stop accepting UK Visa credit cards

#449

Post by scatters »

swarnie wrote: post #187
adav wrote: post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why not rely on direct debit to pay the full balance?

Poor management on my part, i'd rather know its done and keep a watch on my spending day to day.

Which demonstrates that you in fact are bad with money, so the system is working as intended. If you don't trust yourself with day-to-day spending, why should a lender trust you with a loan representing months or years of income?

Re: Amazon to stop accepting UK Visa credit cards

#450

Post by carnitine »

chanc3e wrote: post #298
maccard wrote: post #261

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A credit rating basically isn't considered for a mortgage in the UK. They will check a report, and maybe request you pay outstanding debts (I was asked to clear my CC balance before completion both times), but unless you have a fraud marker or are bankrupt it won't affect you. Mortgages are secured on the asset, so it's far less risky than a personal loan of 5x less - the bank can seize the asset and force the sale o…

My experience is they do indeed dig into your credit report and will approve/deny based on it. Not sure where your information to the contrary comes from? https://www.which.co.uk/money/mortgages-and-property/mortgag...

They explicitly mention a report. It’s just the number rating which is irrelevant.
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